True Detective (14 page)

"We've never met." I said, "but I have heard of him."

"Are you aware that he is the man who put Al Capone away?"

I grinned. "I always thought my friend Eliot Ness had something to do with that."

"Indeed he did." the General said, nodding sagely. "A good man. He is part of what I am talking about. You see, there were some of us here in Chicago… in positions of responsibility… who began to feel, a few years ago. that Mr. Capone and company were giving our city more than just a 'colorful' reputation. Chicago had come to be viewed as a happy hunting ground for gunmen and other criminals, and. while I undertook a European campaign to defend her good name, Chicago to a degree did deserve this stigma. This colony of unnaturalized persons, which Mr. Capone came to symbolize, had undertaken a reign of lawlessness and terror in open defiance of the law. My friends on Wall Street were beginning to ponder upon whether or not their money was safely invested here. The time had come to act."

The time had also come for me to ask a question, because the General paused dramatically, here, to light his pipe again.

So I said, "How does this make Herbert Hoover the guy who got Capone?"

He shrugged facially. "That is just a way of putting it. The efforts actually began before Mr. Hoover reached office, but it is well known that for many months, every morning, when he and Andrew Mellon would toss the medicine ball around on the White House lawn, the president would ask Andrew, who is a personal friend of mine and the secretary of treasury, if that man Capone was in jail yet. So it has been the interest and support of Mr. Hoover that made the end of Mr. Capone possible. You see. prior to Mr. Hoover reaching office, several of us here in Chicago had devised a two-part plan. First, a world's fair. What better way to restore Chicago's image in the eyes of the nation, of the world. What better way than to attract millions of people from around the globe to our fair city on the lake, to prove to them that the average person in Chicago never so much as
sees
a gangster."

I would've liked to have met that average person, but never mind.

"We felt we needed a good ten years to do the exposition up right. We would call it 'A Century of Progress,' and it would take place in 1937, the hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the city- "

I interrupted. "But you're planning it now for
this
summer. And it's still called 'A Century? of Progress,' isn't it?"

"Yes," Dawes admitted, "but, after the Crash, the city needed the exposition more than it needed correct mathematics."

Uncle Louis said, "Fort Dearborn was a village in 1833. That's a century, isn't it?"

"Hey, it's okay with me," I said. "Hold it any year you like. I think it's a good idea. Good for the city; it'll bring some money in."

The General smiled and nodded, as if he hadn't thought of that before but it was a good idea.

Then he continued. "When we were first discussing the possibility of an exposition, we knew that for it to truly be a success, for the point we were seeking to make to be made. Mr. Capone would have to be excised. And then we would need to restore the law and order that preceded him."

"Excuse me. General." I said, "but Big Jim Colosimo and Johnny Torrio preceded Al Capone. not law and order."

My uncle gave me another sharp look; like a knife.

But the General only smiled enigmatically. "Shall we say the
relative
law and order that preceded Mr. Capone."

"All right
_?
" I conceded.

"This was when some of us here in Chicago, who were concerned, and who had certain influence- and since I was, at that time, still vice-president of these United States, I did have influence- thought something should be done. I arranged for a special prosecutor, a Dwight Green, to begin dealing with Mr. Capone and company. A two-part attack was devised. Mr. Ness and his 'untouchables' would damage Mr. Capone financially, while Mr. Irey of the IRS attempted to put our income tax laws to a
good
use, for a change. The first of the gangsters to go to prison for tax evasion, you may remember, was one Frank Nitti, with whom I believe you are acquainted."

"Him I've met."

"Of course these things go in cycles, and Mr. Nitti is no longer in prison, though Mr. Capone is. and will be for some time. As you so rightly pointed out. Mr. Heller, the gangster element was with us long before Al Capone. and will go on being with us for time immemorial, human nature being what it is. But it should remain in its back-alley place, inconspicuous, within bounds. It should keep out of City Hall, for one thing."

I sipped my tea. "You've got a Republican to thank for
that
, sir."

Uncle Louis closed his eyes.

"True," Dawes said, "but I will not take credit nor blame for William Hale Thompson. The man was a public drunkard, his campaign tactics an embarrassment, his connection with the Capone crowd, the obvious graft, the embezzlement"- he glanced about Saint Hubert's sadly "all crowned by the absurdity of his anti-British stance, demanding 'pro-British' textbooks be burned, threatening to 'whack King George on the snoot.' As ambassador to Great Britain I was personally ashamed by such remarks coming from the mayor of my own great city. 'Big Bill,' as he is so quaintly referred to, bankrupted this city, humiliated and disgraced it, to a degree that, well… how should I put it?"

"Like Capone," I said, "he had to go."

"Precisely."

"And now in his place you have Cermak," I said.

Dawes sighed heavily, nodded. "Still, there are things to be said in Cermak's favor. When city employees under Mayor Thompson were having payless paydays. Commissioner Cermak's count)' employees were paid regularly. His fiscal skills were an encouraging sign. But I have always had misgivings about Mr. Cermak."

"I thought you bankers were all behind him." I said. "He's one of your own, after all."

Dawes smiled again, but barely concealed his contempt for the subject at hand. "A. J. Cermak sitting on the boards of a few minor banks does not make him 'one of our own.' But you are correct. Mr. Heller. There was Cermak support among financial and commercial leaders of Democratic leaning, certainly. And we Republicans could hardly be expected to rally around William Hale Thompson's bid for a fourth term."

"I seem to recall." I said, somewhat coyly. "Cermak nominating a friend of yours as favorite-son candidate for president at the national convention last month."

That was Melvin Traylor, president of the First National Bank and perhaps the only banker in Chicago of nearly equal stature to the General.

"Yes." Dawes nodded, "Melvin was a major Cermak supporter. And Frank Loesch. of the Chicago Crime Commission. There were any number of Cermak-for-mayor businessmen's committees. Many of us came to support Mr. Cermak, as the 'lesser evil.'"

"Well," I said, "he
has
been helping you bankers out on the tax front, hasn't he?"

Uncle Louis said, a bit testily, "Which is only fair, since he must come to the banks to obtain loans for the city."

The General dismissed all that with a wave of the hand. "That would be the case under any mayor, under current conditions. The major reason Mr. Cermak gained the support of business was his promise to 'redeem Chicago,' to restore her good name. To put an end to all gangster operations during the fair."

"Did you really believe that?"

"Yes, within reason. As we've both said, gangsters will always be with us. The people who come to our fair will occasionally seek that which is not offered there. So I would not expect, for example, a gentleman from Des Moines having a great deal of difficulty finding a glass of beer to drink while in Chicago this summer."

"Cermak's declared war on crime. Isn't that what you want?"

"Bloody headlines are not what any of us want. The fair is designed to paint a whole new picture of Chicago. And blood is not the sort of paint we have in mind."

"I can see that," I admitted.

"Now. You may be wondering where you fit into all this."

"Yes."

"I'm merely hoping you'll be civic-minded when Mr. Nitti's trial comes up, before too long."

"Civic-minded?"

"Yes. I would hope you would take the stand and tell the truth."

"Which truth is that?"

Dawes looked at me hard. "
The
truth, man! The truth. Whatever it is. Wherever the chips may fall."

"Okay." I said, unsurely.

"Like the city- council." he said, with humor. "I believe a sense of civic duty should be rewarded."

"That's nice. How?"

"I understand you've opened a private agency."

"That's correct."

"I understand further that you were a member of the pickpocket detail."

"Yes."

"We'll have our own security force, at the fair. I would like them instructed in the ways and means of the pickpocket. I would like you to do that. And I would like you to spend a day or two at the fair, each week, yourself, when your schedule allows, to supervise them, doing spot checks, perhaps nabbing an occasional pickpocket personally."

"Fine," I said.

■

"Would a retainer of three thousand dollars be sufficient?"

"Oh, yes."

"Good. Now this is all tentative, mind you. Contingent upon your performance at the trial."

"Oh."

"Come and see me afterward. And we'll draw up a contract." He stood. So did my uncle Louis. So did I.

He offered his hand for another shake, and I shook it, and said, "Well, thanks for the offer. It's very kind of you."

"Most of my troubles have come from attempted acts of kindness," he said. "But most of my happiness has come from the same endeavor. It will be illuminating to see into which category you fall."

Right." I said.

Out on the street I said to Uncle Louis, "What was that all about?"

"Isn't it self-evident? He wants you to tell the truth at the trial."

"We're talking about
the
truth, here? As in. what
really
happened?"

"Of course."

We walked with hands in topcoat pockets; the wind off the lake was finally kicking in. It was down in the mid-thirties now.

"He wants to expose Cermak?" I said. "I don't get it. That's just more bad Chicago publicity."

"Exposing Cermak would be the best thing in the world for the General and his high-hat friends. Nate. The bad publicity could force Cermak to resign, on account of 'health problems.' He has 'em, you know."

I had a sudden image of Cermak getting up and heading for the toilet.

"Yeah, I know," I said.

"And if he doesn't resign, it'll scare him into cleaning up his act. He won't send his hooligan squads around assassinating gangsters anymore. And he may keep his own associations with gangsters a bit closer to his vest."

"Maybe you're right." I said.

"Besides." Uncle Louis went on. "Cermak is a Democrat. This'll provide a nice cloud to hang over him when reelection comes around, and we'll get a
real
Republican back in. It's going to be a cold day in hell when a Democratic machine runs Chicago again, after Cermak gets dumped."

"Well, it's already getting colder, you know. Uncle Louis."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't sell Cermak out. At least I don't see how I can. He can yank my license. I won't be able to work. I won't be able to cam' a gun, either. And maybe Ted Newberry or Roger Touhy'll send some guys over to take me for a ride."

"Well." Uncle Louis said, "think it over. Cermak is powerful, but the General is
power
. When he said Hoover was the guy who got Capone. he was just being nice, you know. It's Dawes who did it. Well. Here's the Standard Club. Let's talk soon. Nate."

And my uncle patted me on the back and entered the gray old club. I walked around the corner, turned down a panhandler's request for a dime, and went up to my office, and called Eliot.

"That looks like a Murphy bed," Eliot said, coming in the door and pointing at the Murphy bed.

"There's a reason for that." I said, sitting behind my desk, feet up. like a big shot.

He took his topcoat off. walked to the straight-backed chair in front of my desk, and turned it around, and draped the coat over it, and sat backward in it and faced me: his face was deadpan, but he was smiling around the cool gray eyes, "You didn't say anything about living here, too."

I shrugged. "I'm not nuts about it getting around."

He pointed again, this time at the varnished-pine four-drawer file in the corner behind me, to my left. "I suppose you got your shorts filed under 5."

I reached over and pulled the bottom file drawer out and pulled out a pair of shorts. "Under
U,"l
said.

Eliot started laughing till his eyes teared; so did I. A couple of tough guys.

My own laughter under control, the shorts on the desk in front of me like something I was working on, I said, "Well, this used to be a lawyer's office. I suppose he had briefs to file, too."

"Enough," Eliot said, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief. "Brother. You've really hit the big time, haven't you, Nate?"

"The biggest," I said, filing my shorts away. "Everybody in town is trying to hire me or bribe me. shut me up or make me talk. I'm popular."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Did you know General Dawes and me were thick?"

"Yeah?"

I held up crossed fingers. "Like this. Guess which one I am. He wants me to tell the truth on the stand, when Nitti's trial comes up."

Eliot thought about that. "He wants you to sell Cermak out, you mean?"

"Yowsah."

Eliot took his hat off and tossed it on the desk. "Well, Cermak is making the wrong kind of headlines."

I nodded. "Don't want to scare potential fairgoers off, you know."

"The fair
is
Dawes' baby, remember. Him and his brother Rufus, who's the president of the thing. You mean to say, he came right out and asked you…"

"Not really. My uncle Louis had to explain it to me. Dawes is a walking garden of platitudes; I needed a translator."

Eliot smiled "I've met him a couple of times. Didn't make much of an impression on me."